Tag: Baba Ramdev

Anna Hazare and Arvind Kejriwal have parted ways. The issue was political formation. Many in IAC wanted to form a political party to fight corruption. Anna Hazare, Kiran Bedi and some others were opposed to it. The meeting on 19/9/2012 lasted nine hours. Yogendra Yadav was the moderator. Anna Hazare said those who want to form a political party can go ahead with it but should not use his name or photograph. Arvind Kejriwal said Anna Hazareâ€™s decision was shocking, unbelievable and sad.

Baba Ramdev and some other people wanted a split between Anna Hazare and Arvind Kejriwal. Arvind Kejriwal was opposed to all political parties. Kiran Bedi was in favour of BJP. Arvind Kejriwal did not want to join with Baba Ramdev as there were tax evasion cases against him. RSS people wanted to use IAC against Congress. Industrialist Sitaram Jindal had a role in arranging meetings of Anna Hazare with people opposed to Arvind Kejriwal.

IAC had made corruption an issue and had raised hopes of corruption-free India. Jan Lokpal Bill was its demand. Congress came with a Lopkpal Bill that was not acceptable to IAC but was passed in Lok Sabha. Anna Hazareâ€™s fast at MMRDA Grounds did not have expected crowds. The fast was to last three days. He called off his fast on second day. Congress managed to disrupt Rajya Sabha and the Lokpal Bill was not passed. Chairman Hamid Ansari played a role in allowing discussion till midnight and sabotaging the bill.

IAC demanded resignation of 15 ministers for corruption. The ministers did not oblige. Anna Hazare had a secret meeting with Salman Khurshid. IAC members were surprised when they came to know about it. Arvind Kejriwal, Manish Sisodia and Gopal Rai held fast at Jantar Mantar. Anna Hazare joined a few days later. The fast was called off on appeal by 22 persons. On the last day there was a decision to go political based on an SMS poll. Anna Hazare did not oppose it then.

Corruption is an issue. Congress is doing its best to divert attention from corruption. Coalgate became too hot to handle. Congress came with â€œreformsâ€. Soon coalgate was forgotten. TMC issued 72 hours deadline for rollback. Many parties opposed Congress and called for Bharat Bandh. After the deadline expired TMC announced withdrawal of support to UPA.

Fight against corruption is continuous process. Sometimes new challenges develop. Arvind Kejriwal was an RTI activist. RTI was instrumental in exposing corruption. Now two judges of the Supreme Court have made a mess of RTI by their verdict that only retired or serving justices of Supreme Court or chief justices of High Courts can head information commissions and half of the information commissioners should be judicial members. This verdict will create problems in fight against corruption.

Anna Hazare and Arvind Kejriwal may fight against corruption separately but it is not clear how effective they will be. It is time for Kumar Vishwas, Shazia Ilmi, Shanti Bhushan, Prashant Bhushan, Manish Sisodia, Gopal Rai and other prominent IAC members to take sides. Shanti Bhushan is optimistic that they can win 2014 election. Yogendra Yadav thinks first election is to be lost, second election is to defeat, third election is to form government. In 2009 many people like Gopinath and Meera Sanyal contested as independents and lost.

To form government at centre, Arvind Kejriwal and others need to field 543 candidates and win 272 seats. Without 272 seats they will have to depend on others and make compromises. They should beware of moles who will pass on information and scuttle programmes. They should form a shadow cabinet and decide who will hold which portfolio if elected. Legislative Assembly elections are due in Gujarat and some other states before 2014. IAC members can test their strength during those elections. They need to take a stand against corporate debt restructuring. They need not take a stand against any issue unless it has something to do with corruption. They may take a stand against reservations in legislatures, government jobs and government-run educational institutions or avoid it.

There are people who defend the corrupt and come up with arguments and excuses against tough law on corruption and tough action against corrupt people. One argument is that there is death penalty for corruption in China and that has not ended corruption in China.

These people do not mention the difference the law has made in China. While death penalty has not ended corruption it has significantly reduced corruption. At one time China was not much different from India. Now it is far ahead of India. In China most of the government money is spent for the purpose. In India it disappears into treasuries of various corrupt people.

China has made tremendous progress in sports. It gets large number of gold, silver and bronze medals in Olympics, Asian Games and such events. China gets returns for the money it spends. They set targets and they achieve them or come close. Their target for Asian Games 2010 was 200 gold medals and they won 199 gold medals, success rate of 99.5%.

China has magnetic levitation trains. In India trains make news for accidents. In Delhi, airport metro is out of service after a few months of running. Potholes filled during summer get washed away during first rain.

In India project costs go up and the final figure is many times of that of original figure. The original figure for Commonwealth Games 2010 was around 160 crore rupees. It went up and up and final figure was around 1,02,000 crore rupees. Shunglu committee reports were suppressed. Nobody was punished for swindling. In Olympics 2008 China won 51 gold and many silver and bronze medals, India won one gold and two bronze. The gold medal was largely due to private effort. The medals India wins in any Olympics can be counted on fingers of one hand.

Corruption in defence purchases has made Indian military obsolete. Trucks, field guns, jet trainers, aircraft carriers and many other items are imported. India has become the largest importer of defence items. China has a strong military. It does not hesitate to use force. China is able to withstand pressure from USA and its allies. In matters relating to Iran and Syria it has opposed USA. It has voted against resolutions on Syria. India has changed its stance under pressure. From opposition to resolutions India has changed to voting in favour or abstention.

China occupies Indian territory and has border disputes with Vietnam, Philippines, and Japan. Those countries do not look for military alliance with India against China.

India had two power failures on successive days. The minister responsible justified delay in restoring power saying it takes four days to restore power in USA without mentioning that happens in winter when it is impossible to travel outside due to snowfall and blizzards. The man got promoted as home minister and leader of Lok Sabha. Electricity theft is passed off as transmission and distribution losses. That loss is passed on to consumers who do not steal electricity and regularly pay their bills. The corrupt officials do not catch culprits and punish them.

Without tough laws against corruption China would have been like India or worse than India. The corrupt politicians, bureaucrats and industrialists have their agents in media. Some agents infiltrated the movement for Lokpal.

Anna Hazare announced the disbanding of Team Anna on his blog. The core committee of India Against Corruption was known as Team Anna. What form IAC will take remains to be seen. One report was they will become Swaraj Party. A party of that name existed in 1923-1927. Motilal Nehru and Chitta Ranjan Das were leaders of that party.

IAC wanted investigation of 15 ministers. That did not happen. The government did not want IAC members to go on fast. Salman Khurshid had a secret meeting with Anna Hazare. That became public. The fast took place. The government did not budge. IAC members called off their fast when 22 persons appealed to them.

Baba Ramdev announced his agitation to get back black money from foreign countries. He had avoided naming corrupt ministers. That did not help. A report appeared alleging Baba Ramdev was a tax evader.

There is a conspiracy of silence about money lost to the people of India due to corporate debt restructuring (CDR). TV channels donâ€™t talk about CDR. Companies borrow crores of rupees from banks and financial institutions and when they say they are unable to pay the loan they are referred to CDR cell. Over the years more and more companies have defaulted on payments.

In F. Y. 2009-10, 256 companies defaulted on payment of 1,15,990 crores rupees, 215 of them got CDR for 1,04,299 crores rupees. In F. Y. 2010-11, 305 companies defaulted on payment of 1,41,158 crores rupees, 242 of them got CDR for 1,10,914 crores rupees. In F. Y. 2011-12, 389 companies defaulted on payment of 2,05,692 crores rupees, 286 of them got CDR for 1,50,286 crores rupees. CDR cell rejected requests of 56 companies for CDR of 19,589 crores rupees and decisions on requests of 47 companies for CDR of 35,878 crores rupees are pending. For three years CDR amount is 3,65,438 crore rupees which may go up to 4,01,316 crores rupees.

If a man borrows a few lakh rupees as housing loan or car loan and defaults on payment he will lose his flat or car. Companies that borrow crores of rupees and default do not lose anything. On the contrary, under CDR they get extension of time for payment and cut in interest rates. It is profitable to default on payment and ask for CDR then to pay as per schedule. GTL Group wants CDR for 17,000 crore rupees. Hindustan Construction Company wants CDR for 8,300 crore rupees. Bharati Shipyard wants CDR for 5,600 crore rupees. Hotel Leela wants CDR for 4,300 crore rupees. No wonder the number of defaulters is increasing.

Indiaâ€™s economy is said to be booming while EU economy is faltering. We hear reports of Indiaâ€™s growth rate. How is that Indian companies are making losses?

CDR cell decides cases when many banks and FIs are involved and the amount is not less than 10 crore rupees. When 75% banks/FIs by value and 60% by number approve CDR is granted and the decision is binding on the 25% banks/FIs by value and 40% by number which is unfair.

Many times under CDR, loan is converted to shares for more than market value. Later the value of shares goes down further. Kingfisherâ€™s loan from SBI was converted into shares at Rs.64.48 per share when the market value was Rs.48 per share or less and now the value is around Rs.16 per share.

What IAC members have to say about CDR? CDR is robbing the poor and paying to the rich. Many banks/FIs belong to the people of India. Indiaâ€™s 121 crore people are robbed so that those who can borrow 10 crore rupees or above become more rich.

What Left Front MPs have to say about CDR? Congress, BJP, BSP, SP, TMC, DMK, JD (U) and MPs belonging to many other parties may have corporate connections and may not raise the issue of CDR but Left Front MPs are not supposed to have any corporate connection. Left Front MPs have not opposed CDR.

Many industrialists have become MPs. Some of them got elected to Lok Sabha but many of them have become Rajya Sabha members. Recently Election Commission countermanded a Rajya Sabha election because 2.15 crore rupees were found in a car. That amount was supposed to be for MLAs to vote for an independent candidate. What about industrialists who pay money to party presidents and become party candidates and Rajya Sabha members? Will Election Commission countermand a Rajya Sabha election if it comes to know that an industrialist got a party ticket by paying 2 crore rupees to a party president?

What Baba Ramdev has to say about CDR? He wants to bring black money stashed away outside India but what about the loot within the country?

CDR cell should be disbanded. Defaulters should approach banks/FIs individually and each bank/FI should decide for itself. If extension is granted it should be for a short period not exceeding six months and interest rate should go up. After that there should be no extension. Property of defaulters should be confiscated.

About Vincent Augustine D’Souza

Vincent Augustine D'Souza is a blogger, author, novelist and quiz master. His quiz site is Go 4 Quiz. He is known as walking encyclopedia. His novels KING and POPE are available in ebook format. Currently he is working on his English Konkani Dictionary.

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KING - A novel by Vincent Augustine D'Souza that shows some contemporary views as wrong. It shows a way to an ideal world.

Excerpts from the King
Chapter 33 - Horse Flu
November was coming to an end. Horses started having flu. Horse flu spread to people. On 1st December one person in Peking died of horse flu.
Next day one person in Canton and one person in Peking died of horse flu.
Third day one person each in Hong Kong, Bangkok, Canton and Peking died of horse flu. Flood in Istanbul.
On 4th December one person each in Saigon, Tokyo, Dacca, Shanghai, Hong Kong, Bangkok, Canton and Peking died of horse flu. Horse flu kept spreading to other parts of the world. Read More...